The Outlaw Varjak Paw
The Outlaw Varjak Paw is the second book in the Varjak Paw Series, which was published in 2005, following the prequel Varjak Paw. The Blurb : There are seven skills that give a cat great power, and Varjak knows them all. He can fight. He can hunt. He can walk unseen. There's just one problem. Sally Bones, the thin white cat who leads the city's deadliest gang, also knows the skills. She knows even more then Varjak does, and now she is coming to get him... Short Summary : Having saved the city cats from a fate worse than death, Varjak Paw finds himself the elected and popular leader of a new gang - a gang that supports freedom and kindness for all. Soon, the city erupts in an all-out gang war as the evil Sally Bones attempts to control the lives of all cats. Varjak and the others must fight for their freedom or die trying; can Jalal's Way really be the best way? Detailed Plot Summary : The book begins when Holly, Tam, Varjak Paw, and Cludge head to the city dump to look for food. Winter is upon them, one of the coldest winters they have ever known. When they reach the dump, Holly and Tam go in to look for food while Varjak Paw and Cludge stand guard. Right then, a patrol from Sally Bones' gang finds the two. Varjak has a fight with one of them, his old enemy named Razor. He beats Razor fairly but does not kill him. Varjak Paw, Cludge, Tam and Holly make a run for it, knowing that Sally Bones' hang would be after the, the next day. : The next day, Holly decides to take Varjak Paw to meet Mrs. Moggs, a wise cat located near the harbor. On the way, they meet the Scratch Sisters, an elite group of fighters that include Elyza Scratch, Malisha Scratch, and Pernisha Scratch. The Scratch Sisters accuse Varjak of being trouble, seeing the scratches that Varjak received from yesterday's fight. But Varjak tells them that he would not stand a chance against the Scratch Sisters so they would back down, taking in his word of flattery. When they reach the harbor, all the cats that live there begin to admire him after Holly told them how he had saved her and Tam from the Vanishings and stopped them altogether. : Right then, a patrol from Sally Bones’s gang walks in; Varjak, Holly and Tam hide, suspecting that Sally Bones and her gang are after them. Indeed, the patrol announces that they are looking for Varjak Paw, due to the fact that he fought and defeated Razor yesterday. When the harbor cats don’t reveal where Varjak Paw is hiding, the patrol doesn't believe them and kidnaps Jess, Mrs. Moggs’ granddaughter. The harbor cats now become afraid of Varjak Paw. Varjak and friends decide to go rescue Jess, ignoring the fact that this was nearly impossible, since no one ever heard of someone leaving for Sally Bones' territory then coming back out alive. : At dawn, they leave to rescue Jess. As they trudge through Sally Bones' territory, they meet Omar and Ozzie, known as the Orrible Twins. At first they get into a fight, but then Omar and Ozzie agree to help them after realizing that Varjak Paw was too powerful for them to defeat. : They notice a pair of ears and a tail in the gutter. With shock, Varjak realizes that these are cats' ears and tail. Omar tells him that this is the punishment for defying Sally Bones, or her gang, and this is the fate that awaits Jess if they do not reach in time. : As they approach Sally Bones' camp, they notice some of Sally Bones' cats trying to get information out of Jess. Varjak Paw notices that Jess had already lost one ear, and quickly, Varjak Paw and his friends jump in to rescue Jess before Sally Bones' cats can do anymore damage to he. All of Sally Bones' cats fight back strongly, except Razor, who just stands there. Varjak nudges Jess to her feet, and everyone starts running back to the harbor. : At the harbor, everyone is so happy that Varjak had retrieved Jess that they feasted on fish. Sally Bones had not allowed them to eat it, as she had once claimed it was hers. Varjak renamed his gang the “Free Cats.” And he and Holly went to sleep. But then, as they wake, they see Sally Bones with a patrol of her furious and vengeful cats. Varjak tries to fight back with the Way, but after receiving a glare from one of Sally Bones’s ice blue eye, he realizes that he cannot summon his skills and shrinks back in defeat. Mrs. Moggs tries to stand in the way, but she is defeated and killed by Sally Bones and Varjak evades the area with Tam, Holly and Jess. They make it to the rooftops, but then they see a gap to large to jump, spanned only by a power cord stretching across. Holly says the only way to get away from Sally Bones was to walk across, and she urges the, to go. Varjak and Jess cross first, Tam next, the Holly last. But when Holly was halfway, one of Sally Bones' cats started on the cord, trying to reach the gang. Holly yells at Varjak Paw to leave, then she bravely snaps the cord in two, causing the intruder and herself to plummet down into nothing. Varjak is utterly shocked at Holly's death, but he is persuaded by his friends to leave, as the area was too dangerous. : Varjak and his friends made it back to the city center, out of Sally Bones' territory, and they meet Cludge there. Varjak tells Cludge that he he needs a safe place to hide. Cludge takes him to The Storm Drain, guarded by the fearsome dogs which happened to be his family. : Varjak walks in, and at first the dogs try to kill him, treating him as an intruder, but then Cludge walks in and tells the dogs that Varjak is a friend. The dogs soon recognize Cludge as a member of their family and become delighted. And as Cludge decides to stay with his family for a while, the gang continues to explore the Storm Drain. Further down in the Storm Drain, after wading through a dirty river, Varjak and his friends find a whole city under the real city. They find lots of mice, and were content there until they get some surprising visitors. : The Scratch Sisters. The team had come down through the sewers to talk to Varjak. They persuade him desperately to come over and help them defeat Sally Bones, as they believe he found her exploit of weakness. Varjak was at first hesitant to do so, as he could not use the Way against Sally Bones anymore. But then he decided to try, for Holly. So he, Tam, Jess, Omar and Ozzie, and the Scratch Sisters begin towards Sally Bones. They swim through a river to reach her territory. When they get out of the river, they see one of Sally Bones' patrol dragging a bloody Razor out of their territory, punishing him for not fighting back when Varjak had went to rescue Jess. : Varjak decides to rescue Razor. He tries to use the Way to fight the patrol, but it doesn't work. Tam gets terrified, and she flees from the scene. Varjak gets knocked out, so Omar and Ozzie finish the job. Razor says ever since Varjak had beaten him in a fight alongside with showing mercy, he wished Varjak for a boss instead of Sally Bones. The rest of the group are extremely suspicious of Razor, but Varjak sees the truth in the battered tom's words and persuades everyone to let him in. They reluctantly agree to let Razor in, since he knows the way around Sally Bones’s territory more then anyone else. Razor says that the only unguarded way in is the railway bridge, a dangerous part of the territory where many monsters pass through. The Scratch Sisters think its crazy and disagree to go there as it could end up having everyone killed, but end up agreeing after everyone persuades them. : On the railway bridge, they find a patrol waiting for them. A battle unleashes but is stopped when a train begins to come their way. Varjak and his friends step off to the side in time, except for Pernisha Scratch, who didn't run away in time before the train hit. The train had killed her and the entire patrol. : Razor decides on a plan where he pretends to take Varjak, the Orrible Twins and Jess to Sally Bones, with the Scratch Sisters and claim that he found them on the territory. Then once they get close to Sally Bones, Varjak would attack her. Varjak likes the plan, although he feels guilty that he had led them here when he does not even have the Way to fight back against Sally Bones. The plan works until they reach Sally Bones. She knows it is a trick at once. She offers Varjak to become her captain, and her friends will be spared. He rejects her offer, but she leads a battered, black and white cat out for Varjak to see, and tells him that if he joins her, he would have her as well. He is shocked and delighted when he recognizes Holly, and Holly calls out that it is a trap, and that he shouldn't believe Sally Bones. Varjak rejects Sally's offer once more, Sally Bones stalks into the steeple where she lives, taking Holly with her. : Varjak fights his way towards the steeple, and then goes inside. He climbs all the stairs until he reaches Sally Bones, then they challenge each other for a fight. He begins to fight and finds that his Way is back, and that he could fight like he could once. They fight until dawn, when Varjak becomes battered defeated. He remembers what Jalal had told him and realizes that he stands more of a chance against her under the daylight. Varjak summons his last ounce of strength, defeats the weakened her and pushes over the steeple edge. : When he goes back down, the cats are delighted that he defeated the coty's worst fear, and he declares the city for the Free Cats. Trivia *"Forever" was accidentally typed as "for ever". *Jessie was called a brown cat. Publication History * The Outlaw Varjak Paw (EN), Random House Childrens (Hardcover), 03 November 2006 * The Outlaw Varjak Paw (EN), Random House Childrens (Paperback), 07 September 2006 The Praise : References Category:Books